Missouri Workplace Bill Dies Amid 'Me Too' Movement
March 25, 2018
By SUMMER BALLENTINE, Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri bill to strengthen employment contracts that require harassment and other workplace disputes to be settled out of court has died.
At issue are arbitration agreements. They're common contracts in which businesses require employees to settle misconduct lawsuits through private companies and not in court.

Editorial: A bad discrimination law prompts federal repercussions for Missouri
March 13, 2018
By the Editorial Board - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A new law in Missouri makes it nearly impossible for victims to win discrimination cases and removes legal protections for whistleblowers. It has embarrassed the state and posed problems for the travel industry and other businesses. Now the federal government is withholding housing funds and threatening St. Louis’ participation in the federal fair housing program.
Lawmakers had ample warning of repercussions last year when they considered Senate Bill 43. Gov. Eric Greitens knew before signing it that the law could be an expensive black eye for Missouri. Even the Trump administration raised concerns. Greitens signed it anyway.

Requirements for filing asbestos claims could be expanded
March 13, 2018
BY SARAH KELLOG - KBIA
The Missouri House passed a bill Thursday morning that would create more requirements for those filing lawsuits concerning asbestos.
Among the new rules, the legislation gives the plaintiff filing a lawsuit a 30-day window to disclose all claims made and provide documents for those claims.

House bills would make malpractice lawsuits harder to winMarch 13, 2018BY KRISTOFFER TIGUE - Columbia MissourianThe Missouri House of Representatives took testimony Monday morning on a series of bills that could make it harder for people to receive damages when suing hospitals or other health-care providers for malpractice.The bills would revise or replace language in three Missouri laws, which supporters say will make the legal process fairer for all parties and help reduce unwarranted and pricey lawsuits. Opponents say the bills will make the process less fair by giving plaintiffs less time to build their cases, and by significantly raising the bar for those seeking punitive damages in malpractice suits.

Review launched into state harassment policiesFeb. 21, 2018By Bob Watson – Jefferson City News Tribune Citing the increasing costs of discrimination cases against state government agencies, Attorney General Josh Hawley said Tuesday his office will conduct a comprehensive review of existing discrimination and harassment policies throughout state government.

Missouri pays $8 million in harassment, discrimination cases in 2017
Feb. 21, 2018
By Alisa Nelson, Missourinet
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, R, says the increasing costs associated with harassment and discrimination payouts made by the state are not sustainable. An annual report shows the state paid more than $8 million in 2017 in such claims. The financial burden has prompted Hawley to work with the Women’s Foundation to review of policies used within the state’s agencies that address such illegal behavior.

Editorial: Attorney general steps up for workers in harassment arbitration cases.
Feb. 19, 2018 – Editorial Board, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Conservative Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley and the #MeToo movement couldn’t be stranger bedfellows, but they have come together to fight against unfair, forced arbitration in sexual harassment cases. Hawley’s position is an unlikely one for a Republican whose party has worked hard to make legal challenges easier for employers to win.

Messenger: Hallmark, Hawley and the #MeToo movement; forced arbitration effort falls flat|
Feb 19, 2018
Tony Messenger – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
For 20 years, Mary Kay Morrow worked at Hallmark Cards Inc., in Kansas City.
By 2002 she was an associate product manager. That year, Hallmark’s management came up with a new way to deal with employee complaints about discrimination and harassment. The company instituted the “Hallmark Dispute Resolution Program,” forcing employees, without their consent, into arbitration for any employment issues.

Bill would reduce Missourians' time frame for personal injury lawsuitsFeb. 7, 2018By Magdaline Duncan for The Missourian & Sarah Kellogg for KBIA JEFFERSON CITY — State lawmakers are considering legislation that would shrink the window during which Missourians can file personal injury lawsuits.The current statute of limitations is five years; the proposal would lower that to three. Missouri is one of seven states that have a statute of limitations of three years or longer for personal injury; 26 states have a limit of two years.

Silencing victims - of any type - is bad practiceJan 30, 2018By LINDA STAMATO & SANFORD M. JAFFE - Guest opinion - New Jersey Star-Ledger "The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society... the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweigh the dangers which are cited to justify it." (President John F. Kennedy in an address before the American Newspaper Association, on April 27, 1961)
Shrouding sexual harassment acts, abuse and discrimination in secret settlement agreements is just the latest in a long stream of cases in which perpetrators pay their way out and hide their sins. The results, for individuals and for society, are consequential. It's time to end the practice once and for all.

Lawmakers begin push to overturn Missouri's discrimination lawJan 30, 2018By Sky Chadde - St. Louis Post-Dispatch JEFFERSON CITY • The effort to repeal legislation that made it harder to sue for discrimination is underway in the General Assembly.Seven bills - six from Democrats and one from a Republican - have been filed this year that would reverse all of or parts of Senate Bill 43, a major win for Republicans in last year's legislative session. "Clearly, backing out of a wrong as significant as Senate Bill 43 is a priority for us," said Rep. Gina Mitten, D-Richmond Heights, the assistant minority leader in the House.

Whistleblower protections would be restored under Missouri proposalJan 29, 2018By Jack Suntrup - St. Louis Post-Dispatch JEFFERSON CITY • Though a 2017 law earned the most attention for how it made suing for discrimination more difficult, opponents fear a lesser-known provision in the law removes whistleblower protections for state employees.Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, said her proposal restores those protections and expands them to include local government employees.

Taxpayer-funded non-disclosure agreements can hide big problemsJan. 28, 2018By Nicole Gallaway - Missouri State Auditor A recent audit by my office found Missouri taxpayers were on the hook for more than $115 million in legal settlements and judgments against state entities over the past six years — including more than $9 million paid out in cases involving allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. But the dollar figure wasn’t our only concern.